ATR stops delivering remaining airplanes to Iran

According to Mikrofonnews Agency (MHA), ATR a French-Italian company says it must give up delivering the remaining aircraft ordered by Iran due to US sanctions on the country.

“In 2018, our delivery target could be impacted given the Iranian context,” ATR CEO Christian Scherer said in an interview published on LaTribune.fr.

Iran Air, the national flag carrier, signed a contract to buy 20 planes from turboprop maker ATR in April 2017. The deal came after Iran signed contracts with Europe’s Airbus and US rival Boeing to purchase about 180 jets.

“Of the 80 planes we expected to deliver in 2018, there were 12 for Iran, that’s a lot,” said Scherer whose company is joint-owned by France-based Airbus and Leonardo of Italy.

Iran took delivery of the first four ATR aircraft last May, two more in September, beside another two in December, with the rest due to be handed over to the country by the end of 2018.

The US President Donald Trump terminated Iran’s nuclear deal on May 8, reimposing sanctions on Iran. He gave a period of three months to the companies to deliver materials under manufacturing to Iran.